Painting brick, good side/bad side ?

[Arky217]

My house is about 35 years old. The brick that was used was probably not a very good grade, plus it is the kind that has bespectacled various shades of mortar or something daubed on the surface.
The problem is that in several areas, the brick is flaking off, some of it in layers as thick as 1/2". This appears to be caused by water splashing on it from rain coming off the roof. An area beneath each outside faucet is like this as well.
The house has never had gutters on it and I imagine this may be the root cause of most of it.
The thing is, the brick is ugly (at least to me) to start with, and also I hesitate to put guttering on the house due to the tremendous amount of leaves that fall from many oak trees that surround the house.
But even if I stopped most of the cause of the flaking, the areas that have already flaked off look really bad. I have consulted a couple of bricklayers about repairing the damage, but they say they couldn't match the repaired areas to blend in with the remaining brick.
So, the question is: How about painting the brick with a good quality paint. Is this a viable solution, and if so, what kind of paint should be used and what should be done to the surface of the brick to prepare it for the paint ?
I have noticed one house in the area that has an off white vinyl trim and the brick has been painted the same color; doesn't look too bad.

My trim is a very light gray vinyl and there is also an attached two car garage that is sided in the same color vinyl.
What would be a good color choice ? The same color as the vinyl or some contrast ? Is it better to stay with lighter colors when painting brick rather that darker ?
What say ye ?

Thanks,
Arky

[glenn kangiser]

There is a waterproofer that will stop water penetration into the brick.  In the old days they sometimes aointed the brick inside buildings - white usually for better light reflection.  If the water is not stopped from penetrating into the brick, the flaking will destroy it and if the joints are lime mortar then it will migrate out sometimes weakening it - maybe reducing it to only sand.  If it has portland cement in the mortar it may fare better.

http://www.moxie-intl.com/1300-CUT-SHEET.htm

http://www.moxie-intl.com/moxie1300.htm

[Arky217]

Glenn,

Are you saying that I should put this sealer on and let it cure before painting the brick ?
If so, then should I use an oil based paint or a latex ?

Thanks,
Arky

[glenn kangiser]

We used the sealer on the building near this one.  It causes the water to shed off of it rather than penetrating it.  It wants to soak in though and is put on with a hudson sprayer.  It dries in a pretty short time.  I don't remember what it said about paint over it -- may be in the specs.  The paint I saw was inside of these buildings c.1866 or so.

It says other coatings are not needed.  I would call the comppany if you want to paint over the outside of it to see what they recommend.  It will penetrate into the brick but after it is painted it likely will not be able to be done again.

[r8ingbull]

Is it a brick veneer or load bearing?  Being just 35 years old I would assume it is veneer...If that's the case, I would just knock the veneer off and side the place.  As cheap as new vinyl is, it doesn't make sense to paint.  Any time you add paint, it creates a new surface you have to maintain.  Expect to re-paint within 2 years if the water problem isn't mitigated.

As far as painting goes, use a high quality latex paint for any horizontal masonry surface.  No primer or sealer needed.  The latex paint needs to be able to bond to the brick, and it won't bond to a waterproofing sealer.

I wouldn't expect to get more than 5 years of life out of any paint going into this application.  Basically every brick has 90 degree angles to break the paint film and allow water to enter.  This water has to go somewhere and that's going to kill the paint.  Add in the small "ledges" from the mortar joints, etc...

Also, anytime you paint vinyl or aluminum siding you have to go a lighter shade.  This is because the darker shade heats up faster and will cause buckling.  I would assume for a brick that is already flaking that you should go lighter as well to keep the paint from pulling the brick apart.

That being said, the paint will hide the broken bricks and help dress the house up.

[Jackson Landers]

Unless you are using a specialty product intended for masonry, don't do it. Brick tends to wick moisture through it's self somewhat. Moisture that gets inevitably in will not evaporate properly if the exterior face is mostly covered in paint, leading to accelerated decay of the brick and mortar. It will make your problem worse.

This issue with the water being improperly drained off of the roof is going to eventually destroy your house if you don't really deal with it. Water hitting the side of a house will cause all manner of ruin. Since the roof was not built with wide enough eaves to keep the water away, you NEED TO INSTALL GUTTERS.

I personally spent 2 years restoring a house that had been re-roofed 10 years previously without a proper drip edge and without fully functional gutters, such that water was hitting the sides of the house regularly.  Underneath the paint, door jambs and windows had rotted, the gasket of a sliding glass door had finally failed (filling the glass with fog), siding had crumbled, and carpenter ants had taken advantage of the rotted wood to get inside and start really doing some damage. Rot in some of the door jambs had spread into the king and trimmer studs. Tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage and all for want of a few hundred dollars worth of gutters and drip edge.

You might want to consider repairing the brick and mortar and then if you hate the appearance of it, consider parging over it.  I suspect that this would be less expensive than removing all of the brick and replacing it with a different siding product.

[fishing_guy]

If you're worried about leaves clogging the gutters, consider installing a form of Gutter guard.

I know my dad installed his 5 years ago, and hasn't had any problems since.  Basically it was a screen with a perfed aluminum backer over the screen.  There may be some stuff in them, but they still drain water just fine.

Here is another discussion of guards:

http://www.askthebuilder.com/Gutter_Guard_Test_Results.shtml

[JRR]

I do not have any personal experience with painted brick.  In my neighborhood there are several houses with painted brick ... I like the look.  The surfaces look well maintained (at least from the street) and I have never noticed any repainting being done.  But all houses here do have generous roof overhangs, so water is not likely a problem.